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As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

nytimes.com

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Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#131

Post by harimau777 »

majewsky wrote: post #111
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm no packaging expert, however we did innovate ourselves in to this mess, it seems reasonable we may be able to innovate ourselves out of it.

Is that anything more than a sentiment? It's easy to come up with counter-examples. For example, it's easy for me to "innovate" myself into a 15-foot hole in the ground, and likely impossible to innovate myself out of it without outside help.

Couldn't you use whatever you used to dig the 15 foot hole to dig an angled hole that you could climb up?

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#132

Post by aviv »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #77
aviv wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating fruits and vegetables that can easily be composted is elitist? News to me.

Ever heard of a food desert?

Give me a break. First address the atrosious food consumption habits within the 94% of US population who do not live in so called food deserts before it can be used to justify the behavior of the vast majority.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#133

Post by ersii »

barbecue_sauce wrote: post #77
aviv wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Eating fruits and vegetables that can easily be composted is elitist? News to me.

Ever heard of a food desert?

I had not and your comment was not helpful in explaining the term either.

According to Wikipedia (if anyone cares..): "A food desert is an area, especially one with low-income residents, that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food. In contrast, an area with supermarkets or vegetable shops is a food oasis. The designation considers the type and quality of food available to the population, in addition to the number, nature, and size of food stores that are accessible. Food deserts are characterized by a lack of supermarkets which decreases residents' access to fruits, vegetables and other whole foods."

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#134

Post by tanilama »

nostrademons wrote: post #18

It makes me wonder if we were ever really recycling, or if "recycling" was a marketing buzzword for "cheaply dumping your trash in China". I seem to remember a lot of controversy over recycling in the 80s and early 90s, with my local town government insisting it was too expensive. Suddenly everything changed in the late 90s, right around the time that globalization took off, and recycle bins took off everywhere. By t…

Exactly. If the 'recycling' is actually a one way door to dump all trash on China and forget about it, it is not really 'recycling'.

It is right about time that Western countries to come to realization that recycling need more smarts and efforts other than making it other people's problem.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#135

Post by Johnny555 »

acjohnson55 wrote: post #53
saboot wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's now become a weird social welfare system for the homeless, some go around collecting large bags and drop them off at recycling areas for cash in urban areas.

I think it's a perfectly fine source of cash for people in need and willing to hustle.

It's not optimal when the poor and disadvantaged are forced to sort through the trash of others to eke out a bit of a living -- without any sort of protective gear or easy access to healthcare to treat any injuries/illnesses.

It'd be a little safer if they could just pick through recycling bins, but that's illegal [1] so they are forced to pick through trash bins.

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Recycling-bins-are-ta...

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#136

Post by wvh »

Semaphor wrote: post #33
genocidicbunny wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

California has this as well -- CRV, but I dont see too many people taking advantage of it. Part of the problem is that most stores dont accept the bottles back -- you need to bring them to a recycling dropoff point that seem to be relatively rare and far in between.

Here in Germany, almost every store takes almost every bottle.

Same in Finland.

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#137

Post by TheSpiceIsLife »

SamReidHughes wrote: post #129
TheSpiceIsLife wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the point of this comment? I’m not suggesting any one individual attempt to innovate themselves out of a world polluted with plastic without outside help , but I guess digging yourself a 15-foot grave could be construed as one method. It’s always easier to say why a thing can’t be done than come up with methods of doing a thing and implementing that thing. I have friends who intentionally restrict the amount…

Recycling has nothing to do with plastic pollution. Plastics that don't get recycled instead get buried in a hole in the ground.

It’s not clear to me what the point of this comment is.

Do you mean to imply that when walking the southern coast of Tasmania I don’t see the area densely littered with plastics?

Or perhaps you meant to imply that the oceans aren’t littered with plastic such that cetaceans are dying from eating too much of it?

These don’t sound like arguments anyone would intentionally make.

Are you certain recycling has nothing to do with plastic pollution? And are you certain that recycled or buried, as a binary choice, are the only two possible outcomes for plastics?

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#138

Post by xchaotic »

dsfyu404ed wrote: post #124
nostrademons wrote: post #18

It makes me wonder if we were ever really recycling, or if "recycling" was a marketing buzzword for "cheaply dumping your trash in China". I seem to remember a lot of controversy over recycling in the 80s and early 90s, with my local town government insisting it was too expensive. Suddenly everything changed in the late 90s, right around the time that globalization took off, and recycle bins took off everywhere. By t…

I assure you that anything metal gets recycled. It's much cheaper to recycle than dig more ore out of the ground. tosses brake rotors in city recycling pickup bucket

Have you ever been to Australia where iron ore is less than 1 meter below ground?

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#139

Post by GistNoesis »

nullc wrote: post #88

Recycling is good for the world. NO! YOU COULD NOT BE MORE WRONG!! Recycling is NOT good for the world. It is bad for the environment, it is bad for our health, and it is bad for our economy. I’m not kidding. Recycling is not good for the environment. It is destructive to the earth and it is a major contributor to global warming. Recycling is not good for our health. It contributes to obesity and diseases like heart…

Nice try GPT-2 :)

Re: As Costs Skyrocket, More U.S. Cities Stop Recycling

#140

Post by Johnny555 »

harimau777 wrote: post #131
majewsky wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that anything more than a sentiment? It's easy to come up with counter-examples. For example, it's easy for me to "innovate" myself into a 15-foot hole in the ground, and likely impossible to innovate myself out of it without outside help.

Couldn't you use whatever you used to dig the 15 foot hole to dig an angled hole that you could climb up?

Maybe he dug a steep sided hole with a backhoe and jumped in.

Just because someone is smart enough to dig a hole big enough to get trapped in, it doesn't mean that they were smart enough to allow for a way to get out.

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